^538 


v^wiii     rcJiii     i^iiiu    ffOVO 


ifififiiiiii 


No.  03. 

WHAT  IS  IT 

TO  BELIEVE  OX  CHRIST? 


Header,  did  you  ever  ask  this  question  ? 
Is  it  your  sincere  and  earnest  wish  to  have 
it  answered  ?  If  so,  thi»  Tract  is  intended 
for  you.  May  God  make  it  a  blessing  to 
your  soul. 

I  will  suppose  that  you  have  at  some 
time  felt  alarnaed  in  view  of  your  sins,  and 
inquired  in  your  thoughts,  if  not  in  words, 
"What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  T'  You  have 
the  same  answer  that  Paul  gave  to  the  jai- 
lor, "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
Still  you  hesitate.  You  ask  what  this 
language^  means.  You  desire  to  know 
what  it  is  \o  believe  on  Christ, 


Your  wishj  fellow-sinner,  is  a  very  rea- 
Boiiable  one.  The  wonder  and  the  sin  is, 
that  yon  have  not  asked  snch  a  question 
before.  It  is  a  most  important  and  sol- 
emn question.  It  has  much  to  do  with 
your  salvation  ;  for  the  Bible  declares, 
"He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  ever- 
lasting life ;  and  he  that  believeth  not  the 
Son,  shall  not  see  life :  kit  the  iDvath  of 
Goi)  ahideth  on  him.*' 

*'  WHiat  is  it  to  believe  on  Christ  V     It  is. 

To  FEEL  YOUR  NEED  OF  HiM  ; 
To   BELIEVE    THAT  Hs  IS    ABLE    AND  WIL- 
LING TO   SAVE  YOU  J  AND  TO   SAVE    YOU  NOW  J 

and 

To  CAST  YOURSELF  UNRESERVEDLY    ON  HIS 

MFRCY,  and  TRUST  IN  Him  alone  for  sal- 
vation. 

To  feel  yon  need  of  him.  Till  you  do  this, 
you  will  never  seek  him  earnestly,  or  trust 
him  wholly.  You  do  not  send  for  a  phv- 
sician  till  yon  feel  yourself  to  be  ill.  It 
w*as  only^hen  Peter  found  he  was  begin- 
ning to  sinkj  that  he  cried,  **Lord,  save 
me."  So  the  sinner  never  goes  to  Christ 
in  a  light  manner,  till  he  feels  himself  to 
be  a  lost,  wretched  being.  It  is  not 
enough  to  hi(yw  thia :  you  must/ee?  it. 


Do  you  say  you  cannot?  O,  then,  hoio 
lost,  how  wretched  you  must  be  !  Your 
very  language  ought  to  fill  you  with  shame 
and  fear.  Whose  fault  is  it  that  you  do 
not  feel  ?  How  long,  need  it  be  before 
you  feel  ?  You  can  feel  alarm  when  a  mur- 
derer holds  you  in  his  grasp  ;  you  can  feel 
sorrow  when  a  friend  is  dying  in  agony 
before  your  eyes  ;  and  can  you  feel  no  sor- 
row when  you  think  of  a  suffering,  Sa- 
viour,  whose  love  you  have  abused — no 
alarm,  when  you  call  to  mind  that  fearful 
judgment  to  which  you  are  hastening? — 
Will  you  dare  tell  your  Judge,  at  the  great 
day,  that  you  could  not  feel  your  need  of  a 
Saviour  ? 

But  you 'say,  "  I  do  feel,  at  least  in  some 
degree,  that  1  am  a  poor,  guilty,  undone 
sinner;  but  this  will  not  save  me."  iVb, 
it  loill  not.  Thousands  have  felt  this  and 
perished.    You  must  also, 

Believe  that  Christ  is  able  a7id  loilling  to 
save  you,  and  to  save  yoic^ow^  He  is  able, 
tor  he  is  almighty.  You  are  a  great  sin- 
ner, but  ChriBt  is  a  great  Saviour.  Satan 
has  been  trying  to  persuade  you  that 
Christ  is  not  able  to  save  so  great  a  sinner 
AS  you  are.    It  is  false.    He  is  able,  and 


unless  yon  IcUeve  this  in  all  it3  glorious 
extent,  you  will  no  more  be  willing  to 
trust  him,  than  a  man  on  the  roof  of  a 
burning  house  will  step  upon  a  weak  lad- 
der which  he  knows  will  give  away  be- 
neath him. 

You  must  believe  that  he  is  willing.  He 
has  in  many  ways  shown  himself  to  be  will- 
ing. If  you  doubt  it,  you  disbelieve  and 
ofl'end  him.  Does  it  please  him,  think 
you,  w^hen  he  utters  this  kind  welcome, 
*' Whosoever  cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in 
nowise  cast  out y'  to  hear  you  reply,  "O 
[tprdj  I  cannot  think  that  thou  wouldst  re- 
ceive sucli  an  one  as  me,  if  I  should 
come?"  Yet  you  do  in  efiect  say  this, 
every  moment  you  cherish  the  feeling 
that  you  are  too  sinful  to  hope  of  pardon. 
You  mistake  this  for  humility ;  but  it  is 
^unbeliet,  and  sin. 

You  must  believe  that  he  is  willing  w(?2?;. 
Perhaps  you  have  thought  hQ  loould  be 
willing,  after  a  few  more  days  or  weeks 
spent  in  praying  and  weeping  and  grow- 
ing better.  Be  assured  your  worst  enemy 
wants  no  more  than  than  you  should  con- 
tinue to  think  so.  You  ore  growing  no  bet- 
ter.   You     are    doing   nothing    to    gain 


Christ's  favor  while  you  refuse  to  yield  to 
his  invitations.  Until  you  belive  that  he 
i?  able  and  willing  to  save  you,  an.d  to  do 
it  NOW,  you  never  will  be  saved.  The 
great  enemy  of  your  soul  does  not  wish 
you  to  set  a  tinne  far  distant  when  you  eaii 
go  to  Christ,  and  when  he  will  be  willing 
to  receive  you.  If  you  will  continue  io 
place  that  time  at  the  distance  of  a  week, 
or  an  hour,  or  a  minute,  his  object  is  gain- 
ed, and  your  soul  is  lost. 

But  jou  ask,  "Does  not  a  sinner,  at  the  mo- 
ment of  his  actual  submission  to  the  Saviour,  feel 
more  fit  to  be  pardoned  ;  and  is  not  Christ  more 
willing  to  pardon  him,  than  ever  before  ?"  No, 
dear  friend,  no!  He  was  Itss  fit  to  be  pardoned, 
for  his  sins  had  been  increasing  every  moment  up 
to  that  very  time  ;  and  Christ  was  no  more  willing 
to  pardon  him  than  he  had  always  been.  Every 
Christian  will  tell  you  that,  so  far  as  Christ's  wil- 
lingness was  concerned,  he  might  as  well  have 
found  peace  in  him  months  or  years  sooner,  as 
when  he  hopes  he  was  pardoned.  The  next  thing 
required  of  you  is, 

To  cast  yourself  unreservedly  upon  his  viercy, 
and  trust  in  him  alone  for  salvation.  This  implies 
that  you  renounce  aJl  expectations  of  saving 
yourself,  or  of  being  saved  any  other  way  than 
through  the  righteousness  and  redemption  of 
Christ.     Did  you  ever  feel  as  if  you  had  done  all 


you  could  ?  Have  you  tried  to  think  of  some- 
thiag  more  to  do  to  obtain  hope  and  forgiveness? 
You  have  done  too  'nixich  in  this  way  already. 

Just  stop  domsr.  and  begin  to  trust  Christ  to  do 
all,  and  you  are  safe.  A  man  is  rowing  a  boat  on 
a  river  juat  above  a  dreadful  cataract.  The  cur- 
rent begins  to  bear  him  downward,  the  spectators 
on  the  banks  give  him  up  for  lost,  ^*  He  is  gone," 
they  all  exclaim.  But  in  another  moment  a  rope 
.is  thrown  towards  the  wretched  man,  it  strikes  the 
water  near  the  boat;  now  how  does  the  case 
stand  ?  Do  all  the  spectators  call  upon  him  to  row, 
to  row  stronger,  to  try  harder  to  reach  the  shore, 
when  with  every  stroke  of  his  arm  the  boat  is 
evidently  floating  towards  the  falls  ?  0  no,  the 
eager  and  united  cry  is,  "  Droj)  your  oars  !  Give 
up  your  desperate  attempt!  Take  hold  of  the 
ROPE  !  But  he  chooses  to  row,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  he  disappears  and  perishes.  All  his  hope 
lay,  not  in  rowing,  but  in  ceasing  to  row;  for 
•while  he  was  rowing  he  could  not  grasp  the  rope. 
So  all  the  sinner's  hope  lies  not  in  struggling  to 
save  himself,  but  in  ceasing  to  struggle;  for  while 
.he  expects  soon  to  accomplish  the  work  of  salva- 
tion, he- will  not  look  to  Christ  to  do  it  for  hira. 
It  is  noi  doing,  but  yielding,  that  is  required. 

But  you  say,  "  If  all  I  have  to  do  is  to  cease 
from  attempting  to  save  myself,  and  to  be  willing 
that  Christ  should  do  the  work  of  my  salvation, 
why  do  you  \irge  me  to  become  a  Christian,  or  to 


do  avy  thing '{  Wjiy  not  let  me  sit  still,  and 
wait  till  Christ  shall  come  and  pardon  me  ?"  And 
what  i(  the  man  in  the  boat  dropped  his  oar,  and 
then  folded  his  hands  and  waited  for  the  rope  to 
save  him  ?  He  might  as  well  have  died  rowing 
as  sitting  still,  and  would  as  certainly  have  died  in 
the  latter  cas*^  as  in  the  former.  But  he  must 
grasp  the  rope.  So  the  sinner  must  lay  hold  upon 
the  cross— ^not  by  waiting  till  he  is  better,  but  by 
fir^t  concluding  that  he  shall  never  be  any  better 
in  the  way  he  is  going  on,  and  then  looking  to 
Christ.  As  he  perceives  the  ground  smk»ng  be- 
.  neath  him,  and  feels  how  lost  and  wretched  he  is, 
filled  with  mingled  despair  and  hope — despair  in 
himself,  and  hope[  in  the  pbwer  and  mercy  of 
Christ — he  says, 

**  I  stand  upon  a  mountaiVa  edge, 
O  save  uie,  lest  1  fall  1" 

His  prayer  is  heard — the  heart  of  the  compassion- 
ate Saviour  is  ready  to  welcome  hijn — the  arms 
.of  "mercy  are  stretched  out  to  receive  him — a 
word  of  kind  welcome  reaches  his  ear,  "  So7i, 
be  of  good  cheer  ;  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee"  He 
believes  that  word — he  trusts  that  heart — he  falls 
into  those  arms,  a7id  he  is  safe. 

Now,  dear  reader,  your  question  is  answered. 
Is  not  the  answer  true  ?  Is  it  not  plain  ?  Do 
you  no^see  your  mistake?     Since  all   things  are 


8  , 

now  ready,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  not  quite  grieved 
away  from  your  heart  by  your  delay,  will  you 
wait  any  longer  ? 

Does  your  heart  now  say,  "  Lord,  I  believe  : 
help  thou  mine  unbelief?"  "Will  you  take  the 
Saviour  at  his  word?  Are  you  willing  to  trust 
him  to  do  the  whole  work  of  your  salvation  ? 

If  so,  lay  down  this  tract ;  prostrate  yourselt 
before  this  waiting,  insulted,  and  still  compassion- 
ate Redeemer  ;  tell  him  all  your  heart,  and  he 
will  pardon,  accept,  and  save  you. 


TEE  ACCEPTED  TIME. 

1  Now'  is  the  accepted  dme, 

Now  is  the  day  of  grace ; 
Now,  sinner,  come  without  delay 
And  seek'  the  Saviours  face. 

2  Now  is  the  accepted  time, 

The  Saviour  calls  to-day  ; 
To-morrow  it  may  be  too  late- 
Then  why  should  yoii  delay  ? 

3  Now  is  the  accepted  Imie, 

The  Gospel  bids  you  come  ; 

And  every  promise  in  his  word 

Declare?  there  yet  is  room. 


pcnmalife* 

pH8.5 


